Sacred Heart & Our Lady's Collaborative

      Newton, MA

The Sacred Heart/Our Lady Help of Christians Collaborative is committed to being a living Gospel to all those we meet.

We strive to encounter Christ, respond in love, and share the Good News of our faith for the realization of God's Kingdom. 

If you are new to this site and to our collaborative, welcome! If you are a long time parishioner, welcome back! We hope you find what you are searching for. 

To view this letter in PDF form, click here.

March 9, 2019

Dear Fellow Parishioners,

Over the past several years, since Fr. John shared in a May 2017 bulletin that he has a progressive neurological disease that is not curable, you have probably noticed that he has experienced some challenges. Even with those challenges, he has been such a blessing, and we truly are so very grateful to have had him among us for so long. He has been such an enormous gift to our community since he became Pastor of Our Lady’s thirteen years ago and of the Collaborative five years ago. In addition to his time here as Pastor, some of you have known him from his days when he lived at St. Jean’s or through Cursillo or the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. His warmth, his wisdom, his deep faith and spirituality, his kindness, and his willingness to respond to the needs of those who asked for his help have touched countless people, as well as his humor, his preaching, his knowledge, his leadership, and his selflessness.

For that reason, it is most difficult to share with you that Fr. John’s disease has progressed to the point that it is no longer safe for him to live in a rectory. Accordingly, Fr. John’s family has decided to care for him. One of Fr. John’s deepest beliefs is that he knows he will be fine as long as he knows he belongs to Christ. What a shining example he is for us all, in sickness, in health, and in faith.

Due to Fr. John’s health, we are unsure at this time when and how we will be able to celebrate his years with us and to say, “Thank you!” We are working on this.

Our relationship with Fr. John continues. We will keep you up to date as we all pray for him and ask God to bless him during this challenging time. If you would like to send him a card, please send it to the office, and we will see that he receives it. May God continue to bless Fr. John and us all.
 
With love and gratitude,
The Collaborative Staff

FOR THE 2019 Lent & Easter Schedule of Activities and Services for the SHOL Collaborative click HERE

Some Highlights Include:

Faith Sharing
Six-week Lenten sessions begin the week of March 4th. Weekday morning, afternoon, evening sessions, plus weekend options. Lent is a great time to join a group! Full details and schedule are HERE

Soup and Stations Friday, March 22nd at Our Lady's
Soup 6 pm - 7 pm in Lower Hall
Stations of the Cross 7 pm - 7:30 pm

The Light Is On For You 
Spend some time in prayer before Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament on Wednesday evenings in Lent beginning March 13. Join us for sung Taize prayer, Adoration, and the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

We are blessed in our Collaborative with wonderful priests. Msgr. Dennis has been with us for many years and has given many excellent homilies. Some of them can now be found here online (and in the bulletin on many Sundays).

We will post a new one each week - one that was given sometime in the last 20 years but will correspond to the current year's Sunday readings.

You can find them at this link.

Want to know what's going on in the collaborative? Sign-up for the Weekend Update emails, and get the four most important things to know each Friday morning. To register, fill out our online form at sholnewton.org/weekendupdate

Dear Parishioners,
Please see the following statements:
February 12, 2019 - Letter from the Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts
August 23, 2018 - Statement of the Collaborative's Pastoral Associates
August 20, 2018 - Letter from Pope Francis
August 16, 2018 - Statement of Cardinal Sean O'Malley
Prayer for Those Suffering

To be in touch with any staff person, see sholnewton.org/staff

If you would like to view the video above with captions in English or Spanish, click the CC button at the bottom of the video.

- Our Lady Help of Christians -


- Sacred Heart -